Ben McKenzie is incredibly proud of wife Morena Baccarin‘s hit CBS series Sheriff Country — but could he make an onscreen appearance?
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly about his new documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, McKenzie, 47, revealed if he could see a scenario in which he would appear on the Fire Country spinoff, saying coyly, “I do.”
McKenzie has enjoyed tuning in every week to see Baccarin’s police procedural.
“She’s great. The kids love her show — or at least a couple of them do. We were watching the last two episodes last night,” the actor, who shares three kids with Baccarin, 46, shared. “It was a two-parter. It was a Sheriff Country and then a Fire Country [crossover]. And it’s just awesome.”
Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin became real-life loves after meeting on the set of Gotham in 2014. Before she struck up a relationship with the O.C. alum, Baccarin married director Austin Chick in November 2011, welcoming son Julius two years later. Chick filed for divorce from the actress in June 2015. Thank You! You have successfully […]
He continued: “It’s interesting because in many ways, it’s a show that is similar to other shows, in the sense there’s a cop drama, but it’s really about the community of Edgewater and the relationships between all these people in this fictional small town.”
As a viewer, McKenzie has been thrilled by the show’s success just one season in.
“There’s something about the incredibly strong desire for those communities — and the absence of those — that is really quite charming. I also just love that there’s a female lead in a female sheriff,” he explained. “This is a part that would always have gone to a man — including myself — in the past. It’s fantastic to be able to see her do that. She’s crushing it.”
McKenzie admitted it has been “funny” to see how often people now “recognize” Baccarin over him, adding, “I have to try to remind my kids that at one point I was also famous! They’re not impressed by my crypto documentary.”
Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which is out in theaters now, explores the cryptocurrency industry. The film was self-financed by McKenzie, who directed, wrote, produced and starred in the documentary as part of research for the 2023 book Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.
Welcome to The O.C.! Ben McKenzie, Adam Brody, Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson were catapulted to fame while starring on the hit teen drama. The Fox series ran from August 2003 to February 2007 and focused on the lives of affluent teenagers in Newport Beach, California. McKenzie (Ryan Atwood), Brody (Seth Cohen), Barton (Marissa Cooper), Bilson […]
“I hope people will be entertained. Everyone knows somebody who’s invested in cryptocurrency, but the point of the doc is not really to speak to [the] five to six percent of the population that’s really into it,” he detailed. “The point is to speak to the rest of us, the 80-plus percent of the country that’s never bought crypto. The vast majority of the public is very skeptical of it, because all they read about is the crime and the corruption and the people who lose their money.”
As a cryptocurrency skeptic and critic, McKenzie was hoping to start a conversation.
“I want to express to those people that it’s not you, it’s them. We’re in a bad place right now where crypto has worked its way into our system via the president’s newfound love of crypto and dismantling of regulation and all of that,” he continued. “That’s very dangerous, but we do have the power, if we hold our representatives to account, to change the tide of history and to put this thing back in its place where it belongs.”
McKenzie was grateful for Baccarin’s help with the project. He also reflected on what he considered his own best investment.
“You’re gonna think this is cheesy, but it’s my relationship with my wife,” he gushed. “It is so hard in life to do it on your own. I’m just deeply grateful for meeting her and for her being brave enough, foolish enough, to marry me. Best investment by far.”
Everyone Is Lying to You for Money is out now.
